The inaugural issue features an invited essay by one of the leading scholars of public policy and public administration in the region, Oscar Oszlak, three articles that apply a bird’s eye view to public policy, and three articles focused on specific policy issues in specific contexts. In the latter category, the issue includes articles that examine Hugo Chavez’s transition towards socialism in Venezuela between 1999 and 2008, the influence of cycling advocacy groups on the political agenda of the city of Medellin, Colombia, and the challenges of implementing gender mainstreaming policies in Medellin, Colombia. The issue also includes a book review by Binghamton University faculty member Susan Appe on a book by Lentfer and Cothran about the big role that small grants can play in addressing global problems. Authors are scholars from Argentina, Columbia, the United States and Venezuela.

Gobernar is a biannual, open access and peer-reviewed journal that is published jointly by the University’s Department of Public Administration and the Department of Government and Political Science at EAFIT University in Medellin-Colombia. The journal primarily publishes public policy and governance papers that have Latin-American relevance or significance for Latin Americanists around the world.

Nadia Rubaii

Nadia Rubaii, co-editor from Binghamton’s Department of Public Administration, worked with the Libraries and bepress to design and customize the journal. “It was a challenging process and we learned a lot along the way,” Nadia Rubaii said. “We are proud of our accomplishment.”

“Binghamton University Libraries is delighted to be involved with this innovative collaboration to push the boundaries of what is possible in building an international scholarly community” stated Curtis Kendrick, dean of Libraries.

The ORB is the Libraries’ institutional repository and publishing platform which is hosted on bepress’s Digital Commons platform. The platform allows faculty, students and researchers affiliated with Binghamton University to promote, share and archive scholarly and creative works with audiences both locally and around the globe. Authors and editors interested in publishing on The ORB can work with the Libraries and Digital Commons to customize the design and layout of their publications.